Less than 5 percent of contracts awarded to minority-owned businesses in Boston

BOSTON — Boston is a majority minority city, but less than 5 percent of our contracts are awarded to minority-owned businesses.

And while the city’s economy is booming, minority business owners want a piece of the pie.

“African Americans make up a significant part of our population here, and when it comes to contracting with our business, we’re nowhere near where we need to be,” said Segun Idowu, executive director of the Black Economic Council of Massachusetts, or BECMA.

Business advocates are calling on state and local leaders to develop specific plans for expanding contracting opportunities for black businesses.

“There are 20,000, at least 20,000 black businesses here in Massachusetts with annual revenues of more than a billion dollars and they employ 12,000 people paying out $305 million a year,” Idowu said.

BECMA is calling for the city to establish concrete goals like increasing the percentage of minority-owned contractors to 20 percent over three years, and make the Office of Equity and Inclusion an independent body and create consequences for inaction.

“Right now, there’s no way to say someone needs to improve their efforts or lose their job and be replaced with someone who can," Idowu said.

Boston City Councilor Andrea Campbell joined the growing number of elected officials joining BECMA’s call which also includes requiring developers to have a minority-owned business partner if trying to bid with the city.

“It’s not about continuing to talk about the issue, to take it serious. We need action, and we need concrete commitment," Campbell said.

Clifford Watkin is the founder of Circle Strategies. Their “Beyond Diversity” program asks what employers can do to build an inclusive work environment, and create diversity in the marketplace from the inside out.

“They don’t get heard. And so, if we can get lots of individuals in workplaces that are not diverse and workplaces that are diverse, and having them talk to their owners of the businesses, that’s where it becomes really powerful and important,” Watkin said.

Campbell and advocates are also calling for a symposium to examine the way Boston bids for contracts.

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